Wearable dispenser and method for carrying at least one article

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a wearable dispenser for enabling a user to carry at least one article. The wearable dispenser includes a container having at least a portion of a three-dimensional character for containing at least one article and a connector attachable to the container and to the user or the user&#39;s clothing. Desirably, the wearable dispenser is suitable for containing tissues, and the connector is a wristband which can be worn about a wrist of a child.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This invention relates generally to consumer goods and moreparticularly to wearable dispensers and methods for carrying at leastone article.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Consumers appreciate conveniences which make the tasks of theirdaily lives quicker and/or easier. Children in particular are lesslikely than others to stop an activity to look for a necessary item(e.g., a tissue) and therefore tend to do without such items withpredictable consequences. Children also are more likely than others toleave an item (e.g., food, money, clothing, toys) in a quickly forgottenlocation when they do not deem it important at a specific moment intime.

[0003] There are various types of dispensers and holders to hold suchitems. However, these holders and dispensers are often easily leftbehind due to their bulk or size. Additionally, often it may not beconvenient to access the contents of such holders and dispensers. Forexample, pocket-size tissue holders are often used as an alternative tocarrying around a standard sized tissue box at times when mobility isrequired or desired. However, these tissue holders can be easily lostdue to their small size. Additionally, they may be too large to fit in achild's pocket and often small childrens' clothing does not include anypockets.

[0004] Thus, there is a need for a wearable dispenser to hold anddispense items, particularly tissues, which is readily available to auser, and in particular to children, at all times to facilitate use ofsuch items and prevent them from being lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The present invention provides, in a first aspect, a wearabledispenser for enabling a user to carry at least one article. Thewearable dispenser includes a container in the form of at least aportion of a three-dimensional shape of a character for containing theat least one article and a connector which is attachable to thecontainer and to the user or the user's clothing.

[0006] The present invention provides, in a second aspect, a wearabletissue dispenser for enabling a user to carry a plurality of tissues.The wearable tissue dispenser includes a container for containing theplurality of tissues and a wristband which is attachable to thecontainer and to a wrist of a user.

[0007] The present invention provides, in a third aspect, a method forenabling a user to carry at least one article. The method includesproviding a container in the form of at least a portion of athree-dimensional shape of a character for containing the at least onearticle, and attaching the container to an outer portion of the user orthe user's clothing.

[0008] The present invention provides, in a fourth aspect, a method forenabling a user to carry a plurality of tissues. The method includesproviding a container for containing the plurality of tissues, providinga connector, and attaching the connector to the container and to anouter portion of the user or the user's clothing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The subject matter which is regarded as the invention isparticularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at theconclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features, andadvantages of the invention will be readily understood from thefollowing detailed description of preferred embodiments taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0010]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wearable dispenser in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the wearable dispenser ofFIG. 1;

[0012]FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the wearable dispenser ofFIG. 1;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the wearable dispenser of FIG. 1;

[0014]FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a connectorin accordance with the present invention; and

[0015]FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a second embodiment of awearable dispenser in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] Examples of a wearable dispenser are depicted in FIGS. 1-6 anddescribed in detail herein.

[0017] FIGS. 1-3 depict one embodiment of a wearable dispenser 10according to the present invention which includes a container 20 in theform or shape of a fictional character or non-fictional characteradapted to hold a variety of items or articles such as gum, tissues,money, paper, food, toys, or other small items, and a connector orwristband 70 which is desirably worn by a user. Advantageously, wearabledispenser 10 may hold various items, thus making them readily availableto a user, and in particular to children. In this way, needed items, forexample tissues, can be dispensed or removed therefrom when neededwithout the necessity of searching for the items.

[0018] Container 20 includes a bottom, upwardly extending sides and anaperture or an opening 30 extending through a side thereof, preferably atop side 40 thereof. Opening 30 is adapted to dispense the itemstherethrough. Preferably, container 20 holds tissues 50 which aredispensed to a user through opening 30.

[0019] Desirably, container 20 is formed in a three-dimensional shape ofa popular children's character which might be drawn, for example, frombooks, movies, or television programming. Such a character might be, forexample, an animal, person, caricature of a person, plant, or portionthereof. An example of container 20 embodying a fictional character isillustrated in FIGS. 1-3 and 6. Opening 30 of container 20 may be formedas the mouth, nose, belly, hand, or other portion of such a character.For example, as illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 and 6, opening 30 is formed asa portion of a belly of the fictional character. By forming container 20in such a way, the child might more likely want to wear wearabledispenser 10 while storing items in container 20, such as tissues, andmore likely dispense them as needed. Thus, the child is saved thenecessity of finding a tissue and a parent is saved the trouble ofcleaning any clothing soiled as a result of the child ignoring a needfor a tissue.

[0020] In this illustrated embodiment, container 20 includes an openableor a detachable portion 60 (FIGS. 1 and 3) for receiving various itemsto be contained within container 20. Items may thus be inserted orremoved from container 20 through an opening 62 (FIG. 3). For example,openable portion 60 may be hingedly attached along an edge 73. As bestillustrated in FIG. 3, edges 72, 75, and 79 may matingly engage edges 71and include hook and loop fasteners, for example VELCRO-type fasteners,or other means, allowing openable portion 60 to be readily opened andsecurely closed. For example, openable portion 60 might include one ormore hook portions 77 on edges 71 while container 20 might include oneor more loop portions 78 on edges 72, 75, and 79. As an alternative, anopenable portion may include a zipper or other releasably closablemeans. Desirably, openable portion 60 and opening 62 may be sized toallow the insertion of a tissue holder 65 (FIG. 3) into container 20thus allowing tissues 50 to be dispensed to the user through opening 30.

[0021] As depicted in FIGS. 1-5, container 20 may be fixedly orremovably attachable to a connector which might be a wristband 70, wriststrap, or bracelet which may be attached to a wrist of the user viafasteners, for example hook and loop fasteners, a buckle, or a zipper,or other suitable fasteners. FIG. 1 depicts a buckle 32 on an endportion 33 of wristband 70 and holes 34 to receive buckle 32 on an endportion 35 of wristband 70, for example. In addition, as shown in FIG.4, wristband 70 may be attachable to container 20, for example, by beingthreaded through slots 90 in a bottom side 92 of container 20. Wristband70 might also be formed in the shape of or might be adorned with imagesof, for example, the characters described above for container 20.Wristband 70 and container 20 might also be formed from materials whichare soft, such as textiles, so as to be comfortable for the user andeasily washable, allowing for convenient care thereof. Various portionsof dispenser 10 might also be made of plastic materials. Advantageously,dispenser 10 might be made of materials sufficiently soft to reduce orprevent injury to a child if he were to fall while wearing it.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 5, another embodiment of a connector orwristband 170 may include hook and loop fasteners provided on the endsof wristband 170. For example, hook portions 80 might be attached to afirst end portion 85 of wristband 170 while loop portions 82 might beattached to a second end portion 87 of wristband 170, thus enabling easyattachment to a wrist of the user. The use of hook and loop fasteners onfirst end portion 85 and second end portion 87 advantageously allow easyrelease of wrist band 170 from a user if wrist band 170 was to catch ona foreign object. For example, wrist band 170 might release from a childif it was to be caught on a piece of playground equipment. From thepresent description, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat a wristband might also be a continuous elongatable or stretchableband. A user might stretch such a band to put it on and take it offwhile it might suitably retract or constrict to a size of a user's wristwhen it is worn. The use of such fasteners is particularly useful forthose, for example the elderly, who might have difficulty using otherfasteners requiring more intricate maneuvering.

[0023] In a further embodiment of a wearable dispenser 110, illustratedin FIG. 6, container 120 may be fixedly or removably attachable to aconnector 193, a portion of which may be removably or fixedly attachableto a user or directly to the user's clothing. For example, the connectormay be releasably attachable to an outer portion of the user or theuser's clothing. As shown in FIG. 6, connector 193 might include hookand loop fasteners to connect container 120 to the user's clothing. Ahook portion 194 may be connected to container 120 and a loop portion196 may be connected to the user's clothing 200, for example an outerportion of the user's clothing such as a shirt or pants. Container 120is readily attachable to clothing 200 by attaching hook portion 194 toloop portion 196.

[0024] From the present description, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that other forms of connectors for attaching awearable dispenser to the user or to the user or to the user's clothingmay be suitably employed. For example, a container might be attached toa user's clothing using a pin, zipper, spring biased clip or othermeans. For example, a container might be attached to a shirt pocket of auser using a spring biased clip. These described connectors forattaching the wearable dispenser are in contrast to the user simplycarrying tissues in the shirt pocket.

[0025] As discussed above, by attaching container 20 to a user or auser's clothing, the user can easily and conveniently remove thecontents of container 20. For example, if the user is a child andcontainer 20 holds tissues 50, then a child could conveniently pulltissues 50 from the dispenser for use as needed.

[0026] Although preferred embodiments have been depicted and describedin detail herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevantart that various modifications, additions, substitutions and the likecan be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and theseare therefore considered to be within the scope of the invention asdefined in the following claims.

We claim:
 1. A wearable dispenser for enabling a user to carry at leastone article, said wearable dispenser comprising: a container in the formof at least a portion of a three-dimensional character for containing atleast one article; and a connector attachable to said container and toat least one of the user and the user's clothing.
 2. The wearabledispenser of claim 1 wherein said three-dimensional character comprisesat least one of a three-dimensional fictional character and athree-dimensional non-fictional character.
 3. The wearable dispenser ofclaim 1 wherein said container comprises a first opening for dispensingthe at least one article to the user.
 4. The wearable dispenser of claim3 further comprising a second opening for inserting the at least onearticle into said container.
 5. The wearable dispenser of claim 1further comprising a tissue holder receivable in said container.
 6. Thewearable dispenser of claim 1 wherein said at least one articlecomprises a plurality of tissues.
 7. The wearable dispenser of claim 1wherein said at least one article comprises at least one of paper, food,money and a toy.
 8. The wearable dispenser of claim 1 wherein saidconnector comprises a wristband.
 9. The wearable dispenser of claim 8wherein said wristband comprises releasably attachable ends.
 10. Thewearable dispenser of claim 8 wherein the container further comprises atleast two slots on a side of said container for connecting saidwristband to said container.
 11. A wearable tissue dispenser forenabling a user to carry a plurality of tissues, said wearable tissuedispenser comprising: a container for containing the plurality oftissues; and a wristband attachable to said container and to a wrist ofthe user.
 12. The wearable tissue dispenser of claim 11 wherein saidcontainer is in the form of at least a portion of a three-dimensionalfictional character.
 13. The wearable tissue dispenser of claim 11wherein said container further comprises an opening through which theplurality of tissues are removable from said container.
 14. The wearabletissue dispenser of claim 12 wherein said opening comprises at least oneof a mouth, nose, belly, and hand portion of said at least a portion ofa three-dimensional character.
 15. The wearable tissue dispenser ofclaim 11 further comprising a tissue holder receivable in saidcontainer.
 16. A method for enabling a user to carry at least onearticle, said method comprising: providing a container comprising atleast a portion of a three-dimensional character for containing at leastone article; and attaching the container to at least one of an outerportion of the user and an outer portion of the user's clothing.
 17. Themethod of claim 16 wherein the three-dimensional character comprises atleast one of a three-dimensional fictional character and athree-dimensional non-fictional character.
 18. The method of claim 16wherein the attaching the container comprises providing a connector,attaching the container to the connector, and attaching the connector toat least one of the outer portion of the user and the outer portion ofthe user's clothing.
 19. The method of claim 18 wherein the connectorcomprises a wristband.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the attachingconnector to at least one of the outer portion of the user and the outerportion of the user's clothing comprises releasably attaching ends ofthe wristband to one another.
 21. The method of claim 16 furthercomprising inserting the at least one article into the container. 22.The method of claim 21 further comprising removing the at least onearticle from the container.
 23. The method of claim 16 wherein the atleast one article comprises a tissue holder containing a plurality oftissues.
 24. The method of claim 16 wherein the at least one articlecomprises at least one of paper, food, money and a toy.
 25. A method forenabling a user to carry a plurality of tissues, said method comprising:providing a container for containing the plurality of tissues; providinga connector; and attaching the connector to the container and to anouter portion of at least one of the user and the user's clothing. 26.The method of claim 25 wherein the container comprises at least aportion of a three-dimensional fictional character.
 27. The method ofclaim 25 wherein the connector comprises a wristband.
 28. The method ofclaim 25 further comprising inserting the plurality of tissues into thecontainer.
 29. The method of claim 28 further comprising removing atleast one tissue of the plurality of tissues from the container.